“If you just build it, they might not come”: promoting events in SL

War of the Worlds, one of a long line of successful special events organised and promoted by Seanchai Library over the years

Welcome to the first in a news series and to a new departure for this blog – articles by guest contributors. In this series, and over the coming weeks, Caledonia Skytower examines the ins and outs and dos and don’ts of event promotion in a virtual world.

By Caledonia Skytower

1. Blasting the Myths

Second Life is like baseball, or rather like baseball movies. Is it really? There is an insidious myth in virtual worlds that if you create something that you believe is wonderful, and tell a few friends about it, people will (and should) come flocking from all parts virtual to see your brilliance, experience your events, fill your jars with awe-induced tips.

“If you build it, they will come”, may be a misquote from a certain Hollywood movie featuring Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta and James Earl Jones, but there are times when it feels like it is the motto by which many live by when developing something in a virtual world we want to share with others.

But here is the myth-shattering reality: it takes almost as much time and effort to promote something successfully, as it does to create it. Event and ongoing venue promotion is hard work. In managing Seanchai Library, which has decent and consistent success for a venue that does not have a single dance pole, I spend approximately 15 hours a week. Four to five hours of that, depending on the week, is in promotion – nearly one-third. It is enough to make you get tired of hearing your own promotional voice. You really cannot get tired of promoting if you want to build a meaningful presence, or have more than three of your BFFs attend your event or explore your creation.

Building something and sending out a few note cards and group notices, then hoping to luck and word-of-mouth might not fill your seats

There is no one single way to reach people – no silver bullet or easy answer. Why is that? Because people are diverse. They take in information and make decisions about where they spend their time in different ways. Just as there are different types of learners – people who absorb information best visually, audibly, and kinetically, etc – people look for and process news information in ways that suit how they personally are wired. It is more than just sending out a few note cards and IM bombing your friends list. If you want to build a healthy audience base, one with an ever-changing balance of faithful supporters and refreshing new pixels, you have to get information to people in a form and manner that taps into their natural habits. That is your job!

Back when I was artistic director of a non-profit performing arts company in the first-world, we used to print posters and would allot a certain amount of them to the cast and crew. This is a pretty fundamental strategy, because your number one audience source (pay attention to this!) is always friends and family. So you want your performers/artists to be passing the word – to be “roaring lions” as the saying goes. Actors especially, like keepsakes. A poster is a classic one. We had to keep reminding people that, unless their back seat had become some unique kind of public place with a lot of people coming and going, leaving posters in the back of the car was defeating the intent of the poster. Put the posters where people will see them!

Put your promotional material where people will see it – in-world and out-world

The same holds true with information of all kinds about places and events in Second Life. You have to figure out where people are looking for information, and you have to get your information there for them to see. You have to be clear and consistent.

This is something that Inara and I have discussed many times – how people can be so naive about promotion. To be fair, not all of them have had the experience that we have had: having both been virtual journalists and had some experience in promotion elsewhere. Most of us are consumers of such information, not the progenitors of it. So that is how this series was born, and I want to thank Inara for her support in publishing it.

I do not know absolutely everything about marketing and promotion. I am not even a marketing professional in first-life. However, over the years I have learned a thing or five, and what I know I will share. Some concepts do not change with technology or platforms, they just have to be re-applied appropriately in the new context. In this series of posts I will share everything from absolute beginner basics, to evaluating the success of your efforts.

Hang on, and have your pencils sharpened. Successful events and healthy region traffic will be your final exam.

NEXT POST: The Basics – Who? What? Where? When?

Catch the Entire Series

If You Just Build It… is a multi-part series. To catch up with everything, follow the links below.

I’m looking forward to this series of posts as it is definitely an area i struggle with. I’m aware there are almost a million SL users out there but i find it hard to punch past my own little community. Destination guide is the only place i get mild success from.

The thing with marketing is to realize that you will have to spend money in most cases. Having just a Facebook page or any type of social media page, will not guarantee in world traffic. You have to advertise in world and out of world. You also have to join event groups and work with SL publications to get the word out. PR can be a full time job! Good tips from Cale.

It amazes me at times when i see businesses without a social media presence. Either their information is not up-to-date, or it’s not there at all. And then they wonder why they are not getting the traffic that they desire.
I have always said that there is no one way to promote wares or services. Too bad that SL media is so fragmented – would love if all SL residents knew they could go to a certain location to access the majority of SL information.

It would sure make promotions a heck of a lot easier! But we’d still have to combat the reality that different people absorb information in different ways. Even in the physical world – where there are some solid, time tested ways to get information out – you still have to take a diversified approach. I think we agree that there is no single magic basket for all your eggs, if you want them to hatch properly.

Thanks Inara. This feels great sharing this information and seeing such a positive response. John: I have only just BEGUN to tip! Much more coming later on nearly every aspect of promotion. The necessity of in world and out world exposure will certainly be a part of that! ~Slainte’ Y’all

It’s been helpful already, as I’ve been trying to overcome the terrible obstacle of “where to start.” There’s SO MUCH social media now. I’m already on password overload; do I really NEED another Plurk/Twitter/Facebook account?

Nope! I would urge you NOT to give in to the “packing peanuts” theory of social media promotions. You just contribute to a format where everybody is already talking and few are listening. I AM going to cover this in an upcoming post. My best advice is always to find out where the patrons/customers you already have found out about you. What kind of social media do THEY follow.? What you are looking for are more people like those who are already faithful. Concentrate on that, and add only a few additional posting outlets as “tests”. Do regular “effectiveness checks” to see if your message is really reaching anyone (i.e. is your time/effort well spent). I recommend giving a new posting outlet 6 months. NEVER expect immediate results. More on this in an upcoming post.

THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Jun 10, 07:00 - 15:00 PDTJun 5, 15:17 PDTScheduled - We will be performing rolling restarts for regions on the RC Channels on Wednesday, June 10th beginning at 7:00 AM PST. Please refrain from rezzing no copy objects and remember to save all builds. Please check this blog for updates.

THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Jun 9, 03:00 - 13:00 PDTJun 5, 15:13 PDTScheduled - We are performing rolling restarts for regions on the Second Life Main Channel on Tuesday, June 9th. Please refrain from rezzing no copy objects and remember to save all builds. Please check this blog for updates.

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